Pfizer’s Inlyta Fails to Win U.K. NICE Backing

Pfizer Inc. (PFE)’s Inlyta failed to win the backing of the U.K.’s health cost regulator in draft guidance on the treatment of advanced kidney cancer, even after the company offered the National Health Service a discount.

The preliminary decision applies to the use of the drug in patients who weren’t helped by the New York-based company’s Sutent or treatments known as cytokines, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, known as NICE, said today in an e-mailed statement. NICE advises the state-run NHS on which therapies represent value for money.

Pfizer submitted trial data comparing Inlyta with a drug not recommended by NICE, the agency said. The trial didn’t compare the medicine with so-called best supportive care, which the majority of patients receive, and an indirect comparison was made using information from another study, NICE said. As a result, NICE’s appraisal committee was concerned that the company’s analysis wasn’t valid and reliable.

“Before we recommend any new treatment we have to be sure the evidence on how well it works is robust and that it is cost effective,” Andrew Dillon, the agency’s chief executive officer, said in the statement. “We do not want to divert NHS funds to a treatment that costs more but doesn’t help people live longer.”

Inlyta blocks receptors in the body thought to play a role in spreading tumors. The European Commission approved the medicine for use in kidney cancer in the European Union in September.

A pack of 56 5-milligram Inlyta tablets costs 3,517 pounds ($5,660), according to NICE. The discount offered by Pfizer wasn’t disclosed by the agency, which cited commercial confidentiality.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kristen Hallam in London at khallam@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net